Concept
Manic defence
In Melanie Klein's theory, a group of defences against the pain of the depressive position: the anxiety and guilt of having harmed the loved object, and the dependence on it. They include omnipotence, denial of psychic reality, and triumph over the object, which is controlled and held in contempt as though it did not matter and could easily be replaced. Klein described them in her papers of 1935 and 1940. In 1935 she spoke of a manic position, but later treated these defences as part of the depressive position. In moderation they help the ego through unbearable states. In excess they block mourning and genuine reparation, and they turn reparation itself manic, an omnipotent repair with no real concern for the object. Winnicott's paper "The Manic Defence" (1935) took up the idea in his own terms.
Development
1935
introduced by Melanie Klein
Klein describes the manic defences of omnipotence, denial and triumphant control in her 1935 paper as a way of escaping depressive anxiety. In 1940 she shows how they obstruct mourning.
In A Contribution to the Psychogenesis of Manic-Depressive States (1935);Mourning and its Relation to Manic-Depressive States (1940)
Relations
- 1935 introduced by Melanie Klein
Klein describes the manic defences of omnipotence, denial and triumphant control in her 1935 paper as a way of escaping depressive anxiety. In 1940 she shows how they obstruct mourning.
Works
- 1940
Mourning and its Relation to Manic-Depressive States
Melanie Klein's 1940 paper in the International Journal of Psycho-Analysis connects normal mourning with the depressive position of infancy. The mourner, she argues, passes through a modified and transitory manic-depressive state and comes out of it. An actual loss revives the early fear of having lost the loved internal objects, and the work of mourning rebuilds the inner world by reinstating them. The infantile depressive position finds expression in the infantile neurosis, through which it is worked through and gradually overcome. The paper also elaborates the manic defences, among them triumph, control and contempt.
See also
People
References
- A Contribution to the Psychogenesis of Manic-Depressive States1935Evidence for a relation
- Mourning and its Relation to Manic-Depressive States1940Evidence for a relation